What’s Your Preference: Straightener or No Rules Style?

Let’s face it, disorder happens. With the speed of life bringing so much information, activity and items into our lives it seems that the edge of our environment keeps expanding to include more stuff. When you are ready to clear the clutter, look no further than your everyday behaviors for clues on how to get organized. The Straightener and No Rules Style Preferences focus on the extent to which you are able to tolerate disorder in your space.

You can pretty easily determine if your habits follow a Straightener or a No Rules style.

Straighteners are compelled to align items within their space.

No Rules are less in tune to the stuff and often don’t notice details in their space.

Wondering which one better describes you?

Take a look around your space. Are many of your belongings neatly stacked, piled or arranged so that edges are even, lines are congruent or evenly spaced. There may be a drawer or shelf of items that seem to fit just right and look really neat. Have you or a friend described you as being OCD or a neat freak? Really you may feel like the opposite is true, you can’t find enough places to put your neat stacks of stuff and it is driving you a little batty. You may be a Straightener.

Quick Tip for working with your Straightener Style- Practice greater appreciation for function over form. While having items arranged in a way that’s pleasing to look at may seem nice, it is the actual organizing- giving meaning to grouping and locations of items- that will help you maintain order.

Take another look at your space. Are there mixed arrangements or messy piles of stuff? Does it even feel right to have everything put up? Do you feel like you are often too busy focusing on other activities to even see what’s out of place in the room. Maybe you are just overwhelmed and unable to improve the space so you just leave it. Meanwhile your family describes you as a clutter bug or living in ‘organized chaos’. You may be a No Rules.

Quick Tip for working with your No Rules Style- Work from simple systems and routines. When organizing feels too difficult, too time consuming or too much trouble take a step back remembering what your goal is then build easy-to-use systems that help you stay organized without feeling overwhelmed.

The Straightener and No Rules Space Style Preferences are at either ends of the spectrum. If you’re not aware of why you have certain tendencies and habits, it can be difficult to create customized strategies to get you organized. When you understand where you fall on the spectrum you know which strategies, structures and behaviors will most likely yield success for you.

The Time and Space Style Inventory (TSSI) assesses your space preferences and describes the typical ways you manage your surroundings. The results are based on how you arrange your space assign value to items and tolerate disorder. By learning your dominant and strong style preferences, you can make the best use of your time and choose to take actions that increase flow in your life. Consistently taking the Flow Steps in your dominant styles will help you successfully manage yourself and the items in your space.

Ready to embrace your natural style? Take the TSSI today to understand how to make your space work better for you.

Can you relate to either of these styles? Share where you are on the spectrum and what works for you!

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About Teresa Taylor

A Taylored Space was founded in 2009 when I decided the best way to use my talents and passions to help people was to start a business that could offer home and small office organizing services. Over the past couple of years I researched several alternatives but I was … Continue Reading...